Pominville’s 3rd-period goal lifts Sabres to preseason win over Senators

Pominville’s goal lifts Sabres over Senators

DUNDAS, Ontario — Jason Pominville scored the deciding goal midway through the third period, lifting the Buffalo Sabres to a 2-1 preseason win over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.

The game was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 980 at the undersized J.L. Grightmire Arena. Dundas, which has a population of 24,700, hosted the game as part of the city’s grand prize in this year’s Kraft Hockeyville contest.

Rob Niedermayer opened the scoring for Buffalo midway through the first period with a short-handed goal. Swedish goalie Robin Lehner, who is 19, misplayed the puck behind the net and it landed on Niedermayer’s stick for an easy goal.

With less than 13 seconds remaining in the second period, and with the Senators on the power play, Ottawa defenseman Patrick Wiercioch took a shot from the blue line that found its way through traffic and got past goalie Ryan Miller on the glove side.

Pominville’s winning goal was scored at 11:14 of the third. He took a lead pass from Luke Adam up the right wing and wristed a shot past Lehner.

J.L. Grightmire Arena’s rink is smaller than NHL regulation, 10 feet shorter and 5 feet more narrow. Line changes were a challenge because the players sat two-deep on the benches.

The Senators were missing all of their big-name players, but the Sabres brought Miller on the hour-long bus trip to Dundas along with fan favorites such as Niedermayer and Thomas Vanek.

Both Lehner, who played with Sault Ste. Marie in the OHL, and Miller played the entire game.

The local organizing committee had 980 tickets to distribute to residents for the game, which was the hottest ticket in town. About 40 percent were reserved for the Dundas Minor Hockey Association, McMaster Children’s Hospital, local Hockeyville volunteers, local sponsors and government officials. The other 60 percent were decided by a public lottery for residents of Dundas and the City of Hamilton, which Dundas has been a part of since 2001.

The arena also received $100,000 to be put toward upgrades. Plans include a second floor above the concession stand, new lighting and an outdoor sign. The community goal is to raise more than $500,000.

For this game, the arena received a fresh coat of paint, adjusted the benches and the lighting, thickened the ice and added a new sound system.